post tres del dia

lil recuerdos. i love the hand painted souvenirs that i have found here.

guatemalan wart hogs, or puerco faces, as I like to call them.

this lil monkey was trying to snatch my bling. (note my lack of bling)

another shot of that gorge i talk about below. This gorge went right through the middle of the school and church.

y mas photografias #2 doble

Takilik Abaj. a fun name to say. Mayan/Olmec ruins. it was hot here and we were tired and understood maybe 30-40% of what our guide said in Spanish, but it was muy interesante y tranquilo and they had a small zoo.

this little pond located near the Guatemalan Pompeii. muy muy tranquilo.

the gorge where the lava flowed through the middle of this town and now there are two janky suspension bridges to cross over.

Fuentes Georginas. amazing hot springs. this pool was very hot

photographias

free zoo in Zela. The monkeys do their best to draw the crowds.

the cemetery in Xela. my teacher at school told me it can be dangerous to go here so we didn´t mess around.

the real reason why Nicole got sick: skunky candy bars

pobre Nicole

street food...

*****announcing nicole´s full recovery from explosive sickness #1*******
(details lovingly withheld for your benefit)
lesson learned: never eat corn from guatemalan streetcarts.

although in their defense, most street food is safe and delicious. we like:

pupusas- thick cheesy tortillas with salad on top, $0.60
helado-amazing sorbet in handmade cone with dolop of jam on top, must eat every day, $0.40
garnachos-baby tortillas with meat/salad on top, $0.25 each
tortillas/tamalitos- sold hot by the mayan woman who made them, $0.10 each
amazing fruit- fat slices of sandia/watermelon are nicole´s fave, $0.15
(i forget the spanish name)-fried plantain stuffed with black beans, $0.60

I´m on blog patrol tonight because Nicole is recovering from a cute lil stomach bug that she got today but is recovering nicely. We just finished 2 weeks of spanish classes. I learned that smoking in spanish translates to tuxedo and pepian de chompipe is a delicious authentic dinner with turkey. i also learned that there are many "false friends" in spanish and lots of irregularities. verbs mostly. we went to another little town today, this one called Chile Verde, and Nicole gave another nice talk on nutrition, but puked halfway through, and i had the kids draw and then played soccer with them.

Thanks to everyone who wrote me happy birthday messages. I had a great birthday and got my face pushed into a cake and got hit with an egg filled with confetti.

this is our friend Tony who sometimes goes with us to do activities with the school. we do a lot of activities with the school.

Nicole in the streets of Zunil where we visited St. Maximon; an idle that is a mix of Mayan and Catholic beliefs and who switches locations every year and people dress him up in crazy outfits like full snow ski suits and feed him beer, which he pees into a bowl, and give him cigars. it cost about 75 cents to take a picture of him, but i didn´t feel right about doing that.

I´m taller than Mayan children. ¿Who knew?

xela´s surrounding villages..and dog

today we went to a little pueblo named Cajabal, about 40 min from Xela. nicole gave a presentation to the mayan women on nutrition and kevin did art with kids. there were farm animals everywhere and the sweetest people ever.

ninos

ninos coloring in nicole and kevins drawings

kevin studies the faces he sees on the bathroom floor while he sits on the toilet. and then photographs them.

camilo, the lamb/dog we live with. he just got a perm.

nicole modeling the local cortes (mayan women wrap it around their waist for a skirt.) we saw a weaving demo in salcaja, another nearby town.



2 weaving looms took up the entire room, and the wallpaper was our fave.

day 2. guatemala city,or guate.

great guat pics

this church was built in like 1542 or something. its walls are like 2ft thick. a guy running a shop across the street had to come to unlock it for us and after we went to his house to try this super sweet liquor the town is famous for. it was awful.

this is our bathroom. for now. we like it. its private and better than all the other bathrooms put together. the bedet works great!

kevin bought the painting above for about 2.5 us dollars. its small but it came with a stand and he love it

look i´m in quetzaltenango.this is the central park where i come to sit in the warm but brief sun most days after surviving 4hrs of 1 on 1 spanish class.

blog bath

nicole and i(kevin) are in guatemala for three months starting last wednesday (the 4th of feb). this is our blog. i´m trying to import some photos to put on here